The liberal media have been pulling out all the stops with pointless mud-slinging against Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL). On Thursday, the ever-juvenile Daily Beast penned what they thought would be a direct hit against DeSantis's hypothetical 2024 chances by alleging he’s socially awkward and one time used three fingers to get a lick of pudding.
Also on Thursday, New York Magazine huffed at this horror as an “image” that’ll “lodge itself in people’s subconsciouses” and joked it could impale his campaign. And at Puck News, Tara Palmeri claimed “some” are “wondering if DeSantis...is on Ozempic, the diabetes-turned-weight-loss drug” because of said media-driven reputation around his love of food.
New York Magazine Intelligencer section editor Margaret Hartmann had the duty of beclowning herself in “Ron DeSantis Eating Pudding With His Fingers Will End His 2024 Bid.”
Quipping that “[p]oliticians should really consider only taking in sustenance alone in a darkened room, just to be safe,” Hartmann boasted DeSantis was “hit with a food-related accusation so weird it may end his 2024 presidential bid before it officially starts.”
She argued the Daily Beast story might “not seem like a big deal” as “[p]udding is delicious,” but she “call[ed] it” that the claim “will follow DeSantis like pudding sticks to fingers.”
Hartmann went on to throw in a pun and joshing about the Daily Beast painting a picture of someone with “disgusting” hygiene and undercuts his image of “look[ing] masculine and tough” (click “expand”):
The devil is in the details. The report doesn’t say DeSantis dipped a finger into his pudding sheepishly; he used three fingers, presumably as a scoop. And it’s established in the preceding paragraph that he regularly ate during meetings...This paints a vivid picture of being trapped in a conference room with your boss as he shoves most of his hand into a pudding cup, scoops the goo into his mouth, licks his fingers, and goes back in for more, with chocolate still smeared around his lips. Disgusting!
Even worse for DeSantis is how funny the word “pudding” sounds. And it’s a dessert for children. The Florida governor wants to look masculine and tough, and there are already reports that Donald Trump plans to mock his primary rival’s height and weight. While I personally support people of all ages, body types, and gender expressions consuming a deliciously chocolatey treat, it’s a bad look for a GOP presidential candidate.
After claiming “the image will lodge itself in people’s subconsciouses” and won’t be taken seriously by voters imagining “a man who’s been credibly accused of licking dessert from his paw like a cartoon bear”, she wistfully surmised Donald Trump will make this a focus during the upcoming campaign.
Wait, so Trump’s okay so long as he’s doing something you want (i.e. ensure he wins the nomination)?
As for Puck and Palmeri, their newsletter The Best & The Brightest led off with a heading, “Is DeSantis Taking Ozempic?”
“The talk of Tallahassee has been that Ron DeSantis is losing weight, and fast,” she breathlessly reported, adding that the use of Ozempic — of which she provided zero evidence — would square with DeSantis’s image and habit of “shov[ing] anything in his mouth,” ranging from cupakes to Zaxby’s to The Daily Beast’s “brilliant” find about his love of pudding.
